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Released at: 06:43, 08/10/2014

PebLeed TM, developed and supplied by PEB Steel, has become a popular choice for building owners seeking to reach global green standards.

by Hoang Thu

Environmental pollution and climate change have major impacts on people’s lives these days, triggering greater focus on green buildings and green building standards not only among researchers, producers and consumers but also among architects and designers. Of the environmentally-friendly materials produced by the PEB Steel Buildings Company, the PebLeedTM, Ridge Ventilation System (Ridge Vent) has been selected by many environmentally-concerned businesses that are in search of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, the world’s most renowned and influential rating system for green buildings and developed by the US Green Building Council, for their buildings.

A LEED certified building is designed and developed according to standards for better performance combined with energy efficiency standards, effective drainage and the reduction of CO2 emissions in order to improve the quality of the living environment and the ability to manage resources, etc. PebLeedTM (in a white-cream colour) lowers surface temperatures by absorbing less heat from the sun and reflects solar heat from roofing. According to Japanese architect Hidenori Mori, many countries have their own set of green architectural standards. Vietnam, for example, has Lotus, a set of market-based green building rating tools developed by the Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC) specifically for the Vietnamese environment. But green standards with global reach and reputation are few. “One of them is LEED, which the PebLeedTM, Ridge Ventilation System from PEB Steel meets,” he said.

Among many others, PebLeedTM has been used for the roofing at the Nike factory in southern Tay Ninh province, which specified that its steel buildings must meet LEED requirements. With the purpose of saving energy and ventilation to cool its production facility, PebLeedTM helps significantly improve the Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) of its products, reduce roof temperatures by 60oC, save 15 per cent on energy, cut annual operating costs, and counteract the urban heat island effect. PEB Steel provided the design, manufacture, supply and erection of the steel building, which brought the project in on time and on budget, supplying a custom-engineered steel building system.

With shareholders including Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), and Okaya, PEB Steel has developed green materials of global standard. Mr Adib Kouteili, Managing Director of PEB Steel Buildings, said that as energy crises and climate change are hot topics nowadays, it is a corporate social responsibility to care about the environment. “Once all parties jointly shoulder the responsibility of promoting the trend towards green development in Vietnam as well as worldwide, eco-friendly and healthy buildings will be within our reach,” he said.